Gardening Leave


Deep in the heart of the Royal Hospital Chelsea lies a very special garden. It's relatively small compared to the manicured lawns, borders and vast greenhouses used by the Chelsea Pensioners, but it's just as precious to the ex-services personnel who tend it.

This was my second visit to the garden, which has been relocated since I was there a few years ago. Back then it was in a deeply shaded spot and quite gloomy, but now...


... it's in a totally different place, full of light and promise.

Around 20% of service veterans develop a mental-health problem, often many years after rejoining civilian life. Gardening Leave was formed to provide a much needed lifeline and a way to help them work through their problems via horticultural therapy. It is a place of healing.

The design brief for this kind of garden is totally different to what you or I would choose for ourselves. It's based on need rather than aesthetics, though I still find it beautiful in its own right, especially now I understand more about it.

Enclosure is important because it provides a place of safety and sanctuary. The beds are raised ultra high so veterans with balance problems or bad backs/knees can work comfortably, or they can duck down during traumatic moments if they feel they need to.

The beds are relatively narrow, to encourage chatting amongst the comrades, their therapist and other staff or volunteers. Likewise the spacing isn't wide, so they can get used to someone behind them moving around. It's quite an eye-opener to realise how an everyday occurrence like someone behind you is perceived as very dangerous when you're suffering from hyper-vigilance or having a flashback.


Many garden design briefs have low maintenance as a high priority. Gardening Leave gardens are the opposite, so there's always plenty for everyone to do. Annuals and roses are good plants for this situation, as are plenty of vegetables, with the added benefit they can be eaten. Here Zisky Stovell, the Assistant Horticultural Therapist at the Chelsea garden shows how growing broad beans is the perfect task.

Note the Gardening Leave logo on Zisky's shirt. Its colours represent the earth, plants and the sky i.e. the charity's gardens and methodology used. The surrounding box represents the enclosed nature of the gardens and the typeface was chosen because it looks like fencing and symbolises the safety provided by working in an enclosed space.


Zisky also found the season's first crop of blackfly on the beans, so I expect squishing duties were put on the task list for the next day! I was bowled over by my welcome and humbled by everyone's enthusiasm for my Shows of Hands project for the Chelsea Fringe. As well as Zisky's hand modelling above, Gardening Leave have tweeted lots of pictures from their gardens in Scotland as well as from Chelsea. Thank you :)

The NHS five steps to mental wellbeing are also enshrined in Gardening Leave's approach:

  1. Connect with the people around you and spend time developing these relationships
  2. Be active and make it part of your life
  3. Keep learning, as learning new skills can give a sense of achievement and a new confidence
  4. Give to others - whether its a smile, a thank you or larger acts
  5. Take notice and be more aware of the present moment, including feelings and thoughts, your body and the world around you
It's not a bad philosophy to keep in mind.

My thanks to Gardening Leave for their hospitality and a much-needed cup of coffee after press day at Chelsea Flower Show. All of their Shows of Hands contributions are on my clickable map, which I'll be sharing with everyone next week :)

You may also like to read this recent article about Gardening Leave in The Telegraph.

Update - December 4th 2015: Sadly Gardening Leave have announced that owing to difficulties in raising sufficient funds, they will cease to exist at the end of the year. I hope that some way can be found to continue their vital work with one of the other forces or mental health charities. With the recent news I fear their work will be needed more than ever.

Comments

  1. Celia Hart4 June 2014 at 08:58

    What an inspiring garden - as uplifting as anything I saw on Press Day (although it was great fun and I was more than happy to be there). Gardening can be wonderfully healing and I'm sure this will be well used.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP7 June 2014 at 09:43

      Hi Celia, welcome to Veg Plotting :-) Yes, this was most inspirational and well worth a visit. I've just heard they're opening as part of the London Squares event next weekend.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous5 June 2014 at 14:48

    A good post about a worthy cause. Flighty xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. AlisonC5 June 2014 at 22:26

    How interesting. Horticulture should be more widely used for healing. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP7 June 2014 at 09:47

      It's something I feel very strongly anout Alison, so it's great to be able to blog about organisations like Gardening Leave

      Delete
  4. Caro6 June 2014 at 19:02

    Thank you for this post, Michelle. It's good to know that help and support like this exists; I'm a firm believer in horticultural therapy and there should certainly never be any stigma attached to mental health issues of any form.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP7 June 2014 at 09:50

      As an ex stress sufferer who found her allotment was the key to getting well again, I'm sure that's why I identify so strongly with initiatives like this one.

      Delete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you and welcome thoughtful conversations :)

Comments aiming to link back and give credence to commercial websites will be composted!

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it ...
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl...
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape...
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing ...
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the...
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee...
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi...
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso...
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter, ...
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener...
Read more